HOLYOKE - Planning Board members are touting the economic benefits of a proposed Lowe's home improvement store in defense of their recommendation to rezone the property.

"The city can use the jobs and the taxes," said newly-elected Planning Board Chairwoman Eileen A. Regan last week.

Mayor Michael J. Sullivan agreed.

"We need the jobs," he said. "We have an opportunity here for good revenue-producing job development."

But others have spoken out against the project, mainly because of existing traffic problems in the area which they insist will be exacerbated by the new store.

"The roadways don't work," said former City Councilor and resident Helen F. Norris. "They're already over capacity."

The Planning Board voted unanimously last week in favor of recommending a zone change for the 18.2-acre parcel where a Lowe's outlet is slated to be built on Whiting Farms Road.

The proposal to change the property from industrial to commercial property must be voted on by the City Council's Ordinance Subcommittee and then the council.

The land is owned by the city-owned utility, Holyoke Gas & Electric Co. The West Hartford-based company, S.K. Properties Development Co., also known as Konover Properties, agreed on Feb. 26 to buy the land for $3 million. But the purchase is contingent upon the land being rezoned.

A public hearing about the proposed zone change was conducted on Oct. 28, and more than 100 people attended.

Jay Fisher, director of development for S.K. Properties, insisted that money generated by the project would allow the city to address traffic concerns.

"The traffic that everyone has been so adamant about is an existing condition," he said. "I'm not going to say our proposal will not have any impact. But our project will be a catalyst."

Senior City Planner Karen Mendrala made a similar point last week after the Planning Board meeting.

"The developer will be required to mitigate traffic," she said.

Even so, some people at the hearing raised concerns about the possible increase in traffic created by the new store.